Keep your Secret! - review

Redemption has never been so charming...

It's incredible that a sweet and apparently harmless name like Lilith carries countless legends and meanings that almost always identify her with a ruthless she-demon.

It is certainly not a coincidence that Lilith - despite her  seductive appearance - is the name of the centenarian protagonist of Keep Your Secret!, the gripping screenplay written by the talented Kristina Schippling, multiple award-winning filmmaker, author and academic from Berlin.

But who is Lilith in this story?

Fascinating, disturbing, sociable...Lilith knows how to attract men and women, knows what to say and how to say it to conquer somebody that she needs to accomplish her very specific plan... no matter if the plan includes the murder of innocent newborns.

After dying during childbirth in the eighteenth century, Lilith  was in fact transformed into a vampire by Lord Baphomet and thus condemned her to a life of damnation and solitude. 

Only the sacrifice of a child born from a mother who bears the marks of Christ on her skin will be able to free her from the curse that afflicts her. This frantic search will lead her to meet Mary in a bar, then her boyfriend Elias and their nice friend Linus. Thanks to her persuasive skills, Lilith will be invited to spend the weekend in their company, and it will be right during this short stay that her diabolical plan will begin. 

Mary is pregnant and Lilith absolutely needs that child... will she succeed in her horrible aspiration?

An extremely smooth and exciting screenplay, that despite the scary and dramatic plot, got the rhythm of a good dark comedy. The characters are well written and it is not difficult to clearly imagine the setting, both past and present.

Blood, kisses, cheating and superpowers are the fundamental ingredients of this exciting story that must be read...in a bite!

The production team consists of several established filmmakers from both the independent scene and the film funding sector. Kristina Schippling (director/producer) and Ezra Tsegaye (co-director/producer) form the core team of the ongoing feature film production. They jointly developed the plot, and Kristina Schippling wrote the screenplay. Both are also responsible for cinematography and editing. The broader core team includes producers Christopher Cornelsen and Michael Paul Aust. 

Michael Paul Aust has been active in the film industry for more than 25 years and has (co-)produced 19 feature films, including world-renowned classics such as „101 Reykjavik“. Christopher Cornelsen is also a well-established producer, having won the Student Academy Award in 2007 for „Nimmermehr“. His current feature film „Imposters and Ponies“ was presented at the Internationale Hofer Filmtage. For Ezra Tsegaye, this is the third feature-length film he has directed. His last feature, „Monster on a Plane“ (world premiere at the Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival (BIFFF) was also screened at Sitges Festival Internacional de Cinema Fantàstic de Catalunya and recieved an award for Best special effects - Horrorant Filmfestival and so on) was also produced by Christopher Cornelsen and is currently touring film festivals. 

While Michael P. Aust and Christopher Cornelsen are primarily known for producing narrative and documentary films in the tradition of German auteur cinema, Ezra Tsegaye specializes in genre films, particularly horror. Kristina Schippling, on the other hand, has directed and produced several art films, video art pieces, arthouse, and experimental films, including the performance-based feature-length film „Ungleich“. She also directed and shot the feature-length documentary „The Sound of Cologne“ with Michael Aust as her producer (world premiere at the Filmfestival Cologne, screening at In-Edit International Music Documentary Film Festival Netherlands; Jecheon International Music Film Festival; AIFF Athens International Film Festival; DokStation Music Documentary Film Festival and so on). 

The energetic production team is further complemented by additional co-producers and associate producers. The film spans a broad spectrum, bridging Kristina Schippling's experimental filmmaking style with Ezra Tsegaye's focus on classic horror genre cinema, promising audiences an exciting feature film.

The film also boasts a strong cast in the leading roles. The role of Linus is played by the famous actor and model Arne-Carlos Böttcher. Interestingly, Kristina Schippling cast the blonde and captivating Isabel Dornheim, a fascinating newcomer, as the vampire lady. The role of Mary, embodying Christian traits and the stigmata of a saint, is portrayed by the Indian beauty Anamika Datta. This casting choice deliberately breaks stereotypes. The casting of the boys (Arne-Carlos Böttcher and Anton Feiste) in the leading roles is equally well-matched to their characters.

The convincing production team and the multi-layered and thrilling script as well as the fantastic cast mean that we can expect an extraordinary feature film!

Cinema can make you travel just like a book.

And Norway, directed and narrated by Erik Jacobsen is a short documentary that seems a magic postcard capable of transporting you directly on the Hurtigruten line.

The cruise departs from Bergen where a parade in honor of Labor Day prepares us for an immersion in the past, a fascinating journey through time on board one of the most iconic vessels of the world.

In just 18 minutes of documentary, in addition to the majestic landscape, we are able to splendidly admire all the small towns that we find along the coast, villages that seem to have remained crystallized in the past and colored houses that seem to have come out of those Christmas glass balls that we adored as children; accustomed to the city smog, the confusion, the multitude of people crowding the streets every day, it is almost natural to wonder  what it would be like to live in such a fairy-tale place, where life flows peacefully and uncontaminated.

Along the route we can admire all the enchanting variety of landscapes and the hypnotic cold light of the north.

We go from snow-capped peaks, to green hills, from impetuous currents, to the glacial calm of the fjords: everything is simply and majestically wonderful.

The show, however, is not only "visual".

In fact, there is a way to relive ancient traditions and customs: typical viking feasts, dances and songs that act as a suggestive Time Machine.

With this documentary shot with so much passion and attention to details, Erik Jacobsen gives us  not only a film where you can breathe adventure and light-heartedness, but a precious virtual ticket to travel with him.

Let's say it loud and clear: Dylan Brody is the voice that we need to hear at least once a day, he is the wise figure we would like to have in our life, he is the free spirit guy we would like to travel with.

He's cool, and he knows it. He's fun and he proves it.

But most of all is fearless to say what he thinks and this is the most beautiful and rebellious thing to be in a society where it has become really difficult to freely express one's idea and personality.

Poetry Against the End of the World written, directed and of course performed by Dylan Brody - award-winning author, humorist and comedian - is  an interesting and fascinating rumination that addresses multiple and current themes but above all  is an incitement to live in the present and to let one's light shine in order to contribute to the improvement of this current world we inhabit.

Voice, face and musician (his guitar accompanies us like a good friend) of this experimental film or, as he defines it, "video chapbook"  Brody ranges from one topic to another with irony and sarcasm which distinguish him and which rightly make him one of the best America's  raccanteurs.

The captivating and sagacious style with which he exposes his thoughts, perplexities and ideas leads to a profound reflection albeit lightly; he talks about what we were and what we have become, about the world as it was and how we are finding it nowadays; he suggest how people should face life to avoid being crushed by modern times, modern solitudes and modern conflicts.

A beautiful experiment made of words, poetry, rhymes and images that teaches us to look at life from a more human, more sensitive, more generous perspective.